rain
by danahscott
Summary: maya is caught in a thunderstorm and there's nowhere to go but lucas' house. problem one? they haven't really spoken since the ski lodge. problem two? he actually wants to know why. (post ski lodge, two chapter fic)
1. Chapter 1

It was never supposed to get that far. Lucas and Maya, together. Before that night, they could maintain the tremulous balance, so close to toppling. No one was supposed to get hurt. No one was ever supposed to acknowledge that they _did_ get hurt. If it wasn't for the rain and the stupid, stupid bus, then things would probably have worked out alright for just a bit longer. But it was just Maya Hart's luck to get caught in a thunderstorm.

 _Bang. Bang. Bang._ Lucas looked up from his notes. At first, he thought he imagined the knocking. After all, who would be knocking at his door at half past midnight? _Bang. Bang. Bang._ He pushed himself out of his chair and went to check the door. Needless to say, he was surprised by what he saw. Maya Hart, dripping wet, looking extremely annoyed to be found at his doorstep.

"Maya? What are you-"  
"The bus broke down. My apartment's three miles away. Could I -" She reluctantly met his gaze. "Could I sleep here tonight?" He peered around the corner to check that his mom hadn't woken up.

"Uh. yeah. Yeah, of course." He opened the door wider, letting her wander in.

"Which way's your room?" She asked, like she hadn't been to his apartment before. But he knew she was trying to pretend, and he knew why she was trying to pretend so he didn't so much as raise an eyebrow as he led her to his door.

"Do you need something to sleep in? You're kinda wet." Maya's eyes widened, as she tried to gather her skirt into her fists as if that could stop the flow of water.

"Sorry, I don't mean to make a mess -"

"Maya, it's not that. I just don't want you to get sick or anything. You must be freezing," Lucas said, already starting to root through his drawer to find something warm, though he guessed she was right to be worried, noting the puddle of water already forming beneath her feet.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm gonna get sick no matter what. I had to walk half a mile just to get here." Lucas furrowed his brow.

"Well, at least let me get you a blanket." Maya shrugged, and Lucas crossed his arms. "Come on, Maya, it's me. You call me Huckleberry everyday, but asking for a blanket when you're on the verge of pneumonia is too much?"

"Starting to think pneumonia isn't sounding so bad right about now," Lucas rolled his eyes, but he took her quip as begrudging acceptance and ran to get her a blanket, and while he was at it, he grabbed hot chocolate mix from the pantry and started to heat up some milk.

By the time he came back, she was sitting cross-legged on his carpet, staring up at his new posters. He handed her the blanket, fearing that wrapping it around her would be too much. She gave him a tentative, tight-lipped smile when he handed her the hot chocolate.

Things were so different now. It used to be so easy to hang out with her. But what happened at Mount Sun Lodge changed everything for everybody. It wasn't until after him and Riley broke up he realized how bad everything had gotten between him and Maya. He felt like he'd messed everything up. They'd almost stopped speaking entirely. He sighed, sitting on the end of his bed.

"You don't have to sit on the floor, you know," he said, pointing to his bean bag chair.

"I didn't want to get it wet."

"Water dries," he pointed out. Maya shrugged, but this time with a small smile, and Lucas felt the slightest bit of hope bubble up inside him as she sat down on the bean bag chair.

"So, what are you doing up so late anyway, Cowboy?" Lucas fought back a smile at hearing her call him a nickname again.

"Uh, studying. Kinda need to pass my bio test."

"You? But you can ace that class in your sleep," she said, burrowing into the blanket.

"I've been… um… kinda distracted lately, I guess." She raised an eyebrow, but didn't press him on it, which he was extremely grateful for.

"Well, I've given up on good grades. Not my thing, you know?"

"No, I don't know." He took a deep breath, remembering the week she was so happy to get an A. Then, everything changed. He still didn't really know why. All he knew was what they told him. While he was on the verge of a decision about the girls, Maya was on the verge of something else. And, no matter how many times he was told she'd fallen on the right side, things weren't quite the same the next time he saw her. She was different. _They_ were different. "Don't you remember the time you got an A?"

"That was a fluke. I think I might drop Spanish, anyway." He sucked in his lips, but decided to change topic. He didn't want to scare her away. This was the most amount of conversation they'd had in months. Very carefully, he made his way next to her on the beanbag chair. Surprisingly enough, she made room for him.

"So why were you out so late?" Maya waited so long in responding, Lucas thought she might have been ignoring him.

"I was visiting my dad's family. They wanted to meet me. I shouldn't have gone, though. It kind of just… sucked."

"Do you… want to talk about it?" Lucas ventured.

"No," she said, briskly.

"That still doesn't explain why you were out so late."

"I got lost. Had to catch a really late bus. Then, of course, it started storming out. Believe me, this was a last resort. You have no idea how much I didn't want to come." Lucas reached out, almost subconsciously, grabbing her cold hand in his. They were so close, he could feel her breath.

"I'm glad you did. I feel we don't even talk anymore. I miss this. I miss… you." Maya snatched her hand away, abandoning the blanket and sitting upright. There was a tense moment of silence. Lucas looked at his hands. "Did I… do something wrong?" He heard her heavy breathing for moment.

"You're not my boyfriend, Lucas." Lucas blinked.

"I know."

"You don't get to talk to me like that."

"Maya…"

"You're not my anything. Not anymore." All of a sudden, she was standing up, leaving the blanket discarded on the floor and heading for the door of his room. He tried to catch her, but she was already outside his apartment, and headed down the hall.

"Maya, wait! Where are you going?" She pushed the door open and Lucas saw the wind almost knock her over right away. "Hey, come back in!" He yelled over the thunder. He bit his lip, but, hesitantly, he ran out, braving the rain, and grabbed her arm. "Hey, stop."

She slowly turned to face him. "This was a bad idea. I should never have come here."

"What are you talking about? What did I do?" He could see her searching his face.

"I told you already!"

"No, I don't mean right now. Why'd we stop talking? What did I do to make you hate me?" He forgot about what had happened just five minutes earlier, and he lifted a hand to her sopping wet hair. She didn't stop him. Thunder echoed so loudly it shook the whole street. His clothes were heavy, dragging with the weight of the water.

"I don't hate you! I could never hate you! That's the whole thing!" She screamed, and he could barely hear her over the wind. "Lucas, just let me go, okay? Just let me go!" She wrangled out of his grip, but she didn't leave, not right away.

"Look into my eyes and ask yourself if it's worth it. If it's worth running into a thunderstorm just to get away from me. We have to face this eventually. You have to face me, eventually." He could see her breath fog up in front of him. She looked away, finally breaking their gaze.

"Just go home, Lucas. Go home and then let me go home." She turned away, running, the sound of her feet slapping in the puddles.

"It doesn't have to be like this," he whispered, but the sound got swept away in the storm.


	2. Chapter 2

**So, guys, I know many of you were surprised this is only going to be two chapters, but I hope you like how it all wraps up. Also, I originally intended it to end with the last chapter before I posted it, but another user convinced me not to, so you've got her to thank! Hope you liked this story, there'll be more stuff coming very soon! :)**

It wasn't until Lucas was staring at his ceiling wondering how things had spiraled so quickly that he realized just how big a mistake he'd made. He'd let her walk out the door in the middle of a thunderstorm? _Oh god_ , he'd thought pushing himself out of bed once again, _no wonder she hates me_. He grabbed his phone punching in her number and biting his lip. _No answer_.

He tried again. _No answer_. He left a voicemail. "Hey, it's Maya! Leave it at the beep!"

"Maya, I'm sorry. Just come back and we can talk. Or - we don't even have to talk. We don't have to do anything." He pushed himself out the door, feeling the rain pelt at his back again. "At least call me back and let me know you're okay. And dry, preferably." He wanted to say more, but the tone cut him off. He cussed under his breath, realizing he left his umbrella back inside. Wonderful. Now they were both going to get pneumonia. He took out his phone again, trying to shield it from the rain. A drowsy voice answered him.

"Hello?"  
"Zay? I need help."

"At one in the morning? Where are you? It sounds like you're being run over by a train." Lucas looked to the left and right, frantically trying to remember which way Maya had went.

"Feels like it, too. Um…"

"Please tell me what you need so I can decide whether to go back to sleep or not."

"I lost Maya!" He blurted, deciding that she went left.

"You're just now realizing that?"

"I mean in the rain." He heard a long silence on Zay's end.

"I'm gonna need more information. Seriously, where are you?"

"I'm _looking_ for her! She came to my apartment dripping wet and then we got into a fight and she ran off and now she's gone-"

"You let her leave in the rain?"

"I wasn't thinking! Things were really intense. Zay, I need you to help me."

"God, if Mama kills me, you're gonna pay for this. Did you try calling Riley?"

"I didn't want to wake her up."

"Oh, so you have no trouble waking me up, but god forbid you stir Riley from her sleep?"

"That is so beside the point. Just… look outside. I'm - I'm outside. Look outside." There was a brief pause and he saw a light flicker on in Zay's window. Even from five stories below he thought he could see Zay roll his eyes.

"Lucas, you're so lucky I live close to you. Give me two minutes."

"We don't have two minutes!"

"Well, what do you expect? I'm in my pajamas, Lucas!" Begrudgingly, Lucas hang up the phone, crossing his arms and tapping his foot, impatiently. Sure enough, two minutes later, there was Zay, raincoat and all. "Which way did she go?"

"This way, conveniently." Lucas checked his phone again, to see if Maya had sent him _anything_ , anything at all. Nothing. He called her again. Voicemail.

"Dammit, Maya, please call back. I don't care what you say, I just want to know you're okay." He hung up, resisting the urge to throw his phone on the sidewalk and watch it shatter. Zay sighed. He took his own phone out of his pocket.

"Hey, Maya? Slow down. I can't hear you." Another burst of thunder interrupted the conversation. Lucas shut his eyes, relieved and a little disappointed. He screwed up that badly that she wouldn't even answer him? "Where are you? _Where_? Jesus, are you - yeah, sorry. Are you okay? Look, he woke me up. Okay, we're on our way. _Yes_ , I'm bringing him… I think he might have an aneurysm if he doesn't see you. You think I have the ability to joke at one in the morning? Being friends with y'all is exhausting. Stay there. I will be very, very mad if I have to keep searching the city all night because you couldn't stay put. Okay. _Okay,_ jeez. Yeah. See you soon."

Lucas bit his lip, waiting on bated breath. "Is she okay?"

"She's safe, if that's what you're asking. But she's crying. Lucas, what did you say to her?"

"Where is she?"

"She outside the subway station two blocks away. Too scared to go in. Seriously, what happened?" Lucas ran a hand over his face.

"Oh god, that was so stupid. Doesn't she know the kind of people who hang around there? C'mon, we need to hurry."

" _Lucas_."

"I don't know what happened, alright? It's like… I said too much. I scared her off." He started off into a light jog, anxious to get to her as fast as possible, but he didn't want to slip on some puddle. And he knew Zay would kill him anyway if he started running. He reminded himself to thank Zay when this whole mess had passed. All too soon and after what felt like a decade, he saw her, arms wrapped around herself standing next to the entry to the subway.

He didn't even bother looking both ways. He ran across the street, leaving Zay stranded and waiting for the light to say walk. She almost shrank away from him, but like a candle going out, she gave in. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. "I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear. "I don't want to fight with you." Her arms clutching him back felt like a miracle coming true.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I hate this. I hate how things are now." He pulled away, letting his hands hold the sides of her head.

"It doesn't have to be like this," he said, and this time he made sure she could hear him. And then, without even realizing he was doing it, he kissed her. Her lips tasted like hot chocolate and warm blankets. He tried to put in the kiss everything he wanted her to have. Sunsets. Autumn leaves. Ice cream on a hot day. Road trips in the middle of nowhere. Paint smears on her forehead. Coffee dates in a small cafe. Starlight. Stomach drops on roller coasters. Snowball fights. Roasting marshmallows. Campfires. Him. _Them_.

She broke for air, and he felt like he learned how to breathe for the first time. He touched his forehead to hers. "Is this… okay?" He felt her nodding against him. Water dripped off the tip of his nose. "Come home with me, Maya. I don't want us to be in this storm any longer than we have to."

She laced her fingers through his. "I'm glad we finally got out of it."


	3. a note to the fandom

okay i am so sorry to be that person who's being all annoying and stuff but i want to let you know: i am not signing off. i will still write fic and make edits and if anyone wants to message me and fangirl about this great show then i will be right along with you. there's also a petition for netflix that may not do anything (but it's worth a try and it worked for degrassi) and i suggest you all sign it! but know this. i am still here. i am still with all of you. and even if every other voice in the fandom dies out, i will still be here screaming and yelling like we did when this show was on the air. i love you all and i look forward to writing more fanfiction for you.


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